Roseanne tweets unacceptable, but double standard at play, conservative activist says
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk said Wednesday that Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet was unacceptable, but he also said there’s a double standard at play.
“The tweets were completely and totally detestable,” he told Stuart Varney during a FOX Business interview on Wednesday. “However, with that being said, I do think there’s a double standard that exists.” Kirk cited the example of MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid, who tended a “fake apology” after publishing “bigoted and intolerant” comments regarding “the LGBT community.”
NBC hadn’t responded to a request for comment from FOX Business at the time of publication.
Barr apologized to supporters and the cast and crew of “Roseanne” evening after ABC pulled the plug on her show following a racist post on Twitter.
She apologized for posting a discriminatory tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser during President Barack Obama’s administration.
Barr later appeared to blame the prescription sleeping pill Ambien for the remark that led to her show’s cancellation.
She also posted several other tweets criticizing the network and Walt Disney Co., the parent of ABC and ESPN.
Kirk added that celebrities with conservative leanings face unfair scrutiny.
“If you are even a smidgen to the right and you say something you regret, apologies do not matter,” Kirk said on “Varney & Co.”
The reboot of “Roseanne” was the highest-rated series on broadcast television during its nine-episode run and will cost the network tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue, as FOX Business reported on Tuesday.